Crows coach relieved to win but inconsistency weighs on team

Ashley Porter, Adelaide

Adelaide coach Brenton Sanderson seemed as much relieved about his team’s six-goal win over North Melbourne at Adelaide Oval on Saturday night as he was concerned with the fear its inconsistency remained.

The Crows have now had alternating wins and losses for the past seven rounds, and stressed a need to break the trend in a difficult challenge with Essendon at Etihad Stadium on Saturday night.

Sanderson labelled Brent Reilly’s 200th game and the presence of 120 past players in the change rooms before Saturday night’s game as huge motivating factors for his players, but said no side could consistently manufacture extra reasons to ''get players up''.

''It has to be driven by individuals; our leadership group,'' Sanderson said.

''You sometimes get inconsistencies with an inexperienced squad. It’s disappointing what we saw (against North Melbourne) and then look back in our first 10 games and ask why is that not consistent?''

Surprisingly, Sanderson said his favourite game as a coach was one that he lost – a preliminary final to Hawthorn by five points in 2012.

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''It’s strange for any coach to say his favourite game was a loss, but with that game we had 22 players who played out of their skin. They could not have executed any better … they gave everything they possibly could. That’s what our fans want to see – win, lose or draw.

''They want to see what we saw (against North) … energy, passion, excitement, aggression, almost anger at times.''

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North Melbourne has hardly been consistent either, having earlier endured a run of six alternating wins and losses, and beating Port Adelaide, Sydney and Fremantle.

But while the Roos have possibly had the toughest draw of any club, and are now facing eight of their remaining 10 matches against clubs below them on the ladder starting with Melbourne at the MCG on Sunday, coach Brad Scott was also dismayed by his team’s lack of consistency.

''It is really an uneven performance,'' Scott said of his team’s run of seven wins and five losses, compared with 4-8 last year. ''There are lots of reasons why footy is different each week. We have fluctuations in individuals. It’s a challenge for those guys to stand up on a consistent basis.

''We are letting ourselves down because we don’t get 22 contributors each week, which the good sides get.''

And reflecting on the losing performance to Adelaide, Scott said: ''Some guys were OK; some were terrible.''

While North is unlikely to make significant changes for the Melbourne clash, Sanderson is buoyed by the availability of Brad Crouch and Ricky Henderson, and probably the following week with Tom Lynch from injuries.

The biggest decision is how to best use Brodie Smith, whose brilliance and driving ability across half-back this season has been likened to the role played exceptionally well by recently inducted Australian Football Hall of Fame member Andrew McLeod.

Like the pleasant quandary McLeod presented, Sanderson is toying with the idea of using Smith midfield, but then hesitated saying the loss of Smith’s impact across half-back would then be a huge loss. It also leaves the quandary how to use Henderson, whose best football is also across half-back. Adelaide’s form has hardly been consistent enough to stick with a set line-up.